Evolutionary prospects for labeled "dull" and "superior" ?

“Something about the atmosphere of law school exacerbates the entering educational gaps of minority and other atypical law students...."

"Once at law school, the average black student gets lower grades than white students: 52 percent of black students are in the bottom 10th of their first-year law school classes, while only 8 percent are in the top half. And the grades of black students drop slightly in relative terms from the first year of law school to the third."

"The Least Isolating Law Schools. Schools were considered least isolating if they had greater than or equal to the percentage of African Americans in the National LSAC Application pool. Seventeen schools (9.1%) were found least isolating because they had equal to or greater 10.6% African Americans. Five were historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) two of which had less than 50% Black and one of which had 50% exactly. This information raises an interestingly dilemma. Since most law schools (52.1%) are under-serving African Americans and most HBCU are decreasing their education of blacks, who will be responsible for the training of black lawyers? It is ironic that University of District of Columbia, an HBCU, is only 34% black. Of the least isolating schools, the Mid-South accounted for eight schools (47.1%) while the Southeast with only one. Approximately 64.7% were private schools. The 1st tier had the highest number of schools with 29.4% while the 2nd and 3rd tiers each had 2 schools."

"A recent study says grades help explain the gap. To ensure diversity among new associates, the study found, elite law firms hire minority lawyers with, on average, much lower grades than white ones. That may, the study says, set them up to fail."

Minorities, poor get "highly gifted" liftA new DPS system awards some kids an extra boost to make things more equitable.By Jeremy P. Meyer The Denver PostArticle Last Updated: 03/04/2008 06:34:50 AM MST

Polaris at Ebert second-graders Guinness Vanos, left foreground, and Jlynn Terroade, both 8 years old, join other students in learning dance techniques during a physical-education class. ( Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post )More minority and poor students in Denver are being classified as highly gifted under a new system that gives extra credit to children who are economically disadvantaged or nonnative English speakers.

Denver Public Schools is trying to fix a disparity in the program that serves its smartest and most talented students — which up until now has drawn mostly white students in a district that is mostly Latino.

"It's a much more holistic look at the kid," said Diana Howard, principal at Polaris at Ebert, the district's sole elementary school for the highly gifted and talented. "I wanted this system to look at much more than test scores. This is going to have a huge impact."

More than 1,800 students in Denver Public Schools — about 3 percent — fit the highly gifted classification and are served by magnet programs at seven elementary schools and one middle school.

Denver is the only district in the metro area that has a program specifically for "highly gifted and talented students."

To determine who gets into the program, the district previously relied on oral tests that measure a student's reasoning and IQ.

But some educators and social scientists believe those tests are biased against students learning English and poorer students who may not have had the same life experiences as their richer peers.

"They may be bright children but may not know what plaid is," Howard said. "Or their concept may not have involved a vacation. Or they may have never been on an escalator."

To make things more equitable, the district now relies on a sum of measures to determine eligibility into the highly gifted program — cognitive tests, annual assessments, reading tests and teacher nominations. Next year, the district will consider artwork and writings.

Also, students get extra points toward entry into the program if English is their second language or if they receive federal meal benefits — a measure of poverty.

For example, a student who scores as low as the 75th percentile on cognitive tests could be considered, Howard said. Previously, that child would not have been admitted.

"We want to find the gifts that these children have, not exclude them," she said.

Experts in the gifted field say DPS's change follows a national trend.

"Standardized tests are tipped against children from underserved populations and children from diverse backgrounds," said Nancy Green, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children. "We have got to find other ways besides verbal tests to determine whether kids are gifted."

The American Civil Liberties Union in California last year threatened to sue the Tustin Unified School District over low numbers of Latinos and African-Americans in the district's gifted programs.

Districts from Miami to New York are giving more credit to smart children from culturally diverse or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, said Joshua Wyner, executive vice president of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.

"If what we are trying to do is measure not accomplishment but giftedness and talent, then putting your thumb on the scale or adding points for kids from low-income backgrounds re-equalizes things," he said. "The question is how heavy should that thumb be?"

Wyner said weighting the system carries political risks.

"If there are a limited number of slots in those programs, then the wealthier student who is excluded will always feel wrongly excluded if their test scores were higher than a lower-income student or Hispanic student who was included," he said.

Jaime Aquino, DPS's chief academic officer, said adding more highly gifted students will not exclude others.

"Every school gets an allocation per student who is identified as gifted and talented, so they can provide them some enrichment or some differentiated services within the building," he said. "You have several magnet programs throughout the district. Many still have room. It's just whether the parents want to send their kids to those schools."

After this year's screening, a third of the newly identified highly gifted students are ethnic minorities, Howard said.

One other reason for the more diverse field is that more students are applying to be in the program. This year, the district began mailing home applications to likely candidates with self-addressed stamped envelopes to be returned to the district office.

With that change, the district received about 500 more applicants for the program. Almost 170 more students were accepted for the 2008-09 school year than this year — including 49 English-language learners and 119 students who receive free and reduced lunches. Those were threefold increases in both categories over the previous year.

"This is exciting," said Howard, who started the district's only elementary school for highly gifted and talented students in 2000 in the old Crofton school in Five Points.

Initially, the student population was 30 percent Latino, 30 percent African-American and 30 percent Anglo — drawing mostly kids from the northeast part of town.

The program has since moved to the larger Ebert School, just north of downtown, and began getting kids from homes in the Stapleton redevelopment. Howard said that changed the demographics of the school, which is now 70 percent white. About 10 percent of the 341 students get federal-meal benefits.

Enrollment into Polaris is highly competitive, with an annual lottery and a waiting list. The Denver school board last year promised to open another highly gifted and talented school, but so far DPS has not delivered.

Letters went out late last month to parents who had sought to get their children into the school. Many were rejection notices telling them of other options for highly gifted students.To meet the growing need, Polaris is dropping a kindergarten class next year and adding another fourth grade, Howard said.

Thirteen of the 33 new fourth-grade students are ethnic minorities, Howard said.

I haven't been following this thread up close, but I saw an episode of Star Trek this weekend that reminded me of it.

There was this alien society that was made up of two main classes--a class of politicians and intellectuals who lived a life of priviledge in the clouds and a class of workers who lived on the surface and in the caves below. When asked to explain this situation by Captain Kirk, the head politician claimed essentially that the workers below were an inferior race. He didn't use those exact words, but he basically said that the workers were not capable of abstract thought or civility--that they were violent and stupid by nature. Kirk then asks about the minority of workers who lived in the clouds to serve the intellectuals. The guy says that those workers have had more intensive training and learned to be civil, but they were still inferior essentially. Kirk obviously isn't comfortable with this situation. The Federation is very much about equality, but it's also about respecting individual cultures and societies and letting them rule themselves--so it is a delicate dipolomatic balance for Kirk and crew.

Eventually, McCoy figures out that the reason why the workers are so stupid and violent is because of a odorless, invisible gas that this emitted by the raw substance they mine. The reason why the workers who live in the clouds act and think better than the ones down in the caves is because of their lack of exposure to the gas, which is also the reason why the upper class is so intelligent.

Now, obviously, there was no genetic component to the explanation of the difference between the two races. The difference was explained by a not-readily-detectable environmental factor. A genetic component could have been injected here--like, generations of a people's exposure to this environmental factor leads to this racial difference. (That would have made the show too complicated and made a resolution to the conflict difficult.) But, I think that might be a fair representation of some racial differences we see in reality.

I haven't been following this thread up close, but I saw an episode of Star Trek this weekend that reminded me of it.

There was this alien society that was made up of two main classes--a class of politicians and intellectuals who lived a life of priviledge in the clouds and a class of workers who lived on the surface and in the caves below. When asked to explain this situation by Captain Kirk, the head politician claimed essentially that the workers below were an inferior race. He didn't use those exact words, but he basically said that the workers were not capable of abstract thought or civility--that they were violent and stupid by nature. Kirk then asks about the minority of workers who lived in the clouds to serve the intellectuals. The guy says that those workers have had more intensive training and learned to be civil, but they were still inferior essentially. Kirk obviously isn't comfortable with this situation. The Federation is very much about equality, but it's also about respecting individual cultures and societies and letting them rule themselves--so it is a delicate dipolomatic balance for Kirk and crew.

Eventually, McCoy figures out that the reason why the workers are so stupid and violent is because of a odorless, invisible gas that this emitted by the raw substance they mine. The reason why the workers who live in the clouds act and think better than the ones down in the caves is because of their lack of exposure to the gas, which is also the reason why the upper class is so intelligent.

Now, obviously, there was no genetic component to the explanation of the difference between the two races. The difference was explained by a not-readily-detectable environmental factor. A genetic component could have been injected here--like, generations of a people's exposure to this environmental factor leads to this racial difference. (That would have made the show too complicated and made a resolution to the conflict difficult.) But, I think that might be a fair representation of some racial differences we see in reality.

Just some random Star Trek-inspired thoughts.

"The reason why the workers who live in the clouds act and think better than the ones down in the caves is because of their lack of exposure to the gas."

It is interesting to substitute group mindsets for "the gas." 'Victim-hood' looms large.'Expectation of oppression' might fit as well.

"The reason why the workers who live in the clouds act and think better than the ones down in the caves is because of their lack of exposure to the gas."

It is interesting to substitute group mindsets for "the gas." 'Victim-hood' looms large.'Expectation of oppression' might fit as well.

Sure, but we could also look at environmental and biological conditions of where black people live. For example, we could look at malnutrition/starvation in sub-Saharan Africa, which cannot bode well for the outcome of intelligence tests.

"The reason why the workers who live in the clouds act and think better than the ones down in the caves is because of their lack of exposure to the gas."

It is interesting to substitute group mindsets for "the gas." 'Victim-hood' looms large.'Expectation of oppression' might fit as well.

Sure, but we could also look at environmental and biological conditions of where black people live. For example, we could look at malnutrition/starvation in sub-Saharan Africa, which cannot bode well for the outcome of intelligence tests.

News Release3 March 2008

DREW BARRYMORE ANNOUNCES US$1 MILLION DONATION ON OPRAH

DREW HELPS “FILL THE CUP” FOR THOUSANDS OF KENYAN SCHOOL KIDS

CHICAGO – Drew Barrymore, one of the world’s most recognized film stars, today announced a personal donation of US$1 million on The Oprah Winfrey Show to help the World Food Program (WFP) feed thousands of school children in Kenya.

“I have seen with my own eyes what a difference a simple cup of nutritious porridge can make in a child’s life,” said Drew Barrymore. “It helps them learn, stay healthy and sets them on track for a bright future. I urge everyone -- everywhere -- to help WFP ‘Fill the Cup’ for hungry children, and make hunger history.” ... One of the schools Drew Barrymore has visited in Kenya is Stara, in Nairobi’s sprawling slums where students say WFP lunches make a real difference.

“Often I come to school without anything to eat. A meal at school helps me because at home we sometimes don’t have any food to eat. The learning is going well for me - when I grow up, I want to be a doctor,” said Caroline Okasire, a student at Stara.

As part of the “Fill the Cup” campaign, WFP is seeking US$3 billion -- just 25 US cents a day -- to feed 59 million hungry school children in developing countries worldwide for a year. People can donate by clicking on “Fill the Cup” at www.wfp.org.

Last year, WFP provided more than 20 million school children with a daily cup of porridge, rice or beans, in addition to giving many girls a monthly ration to take home to their families. Up to 70 percent of WFP’s food used for school meals is purchased from farmers in the developing world.

"The reason why the workers who live in the clouds act and think better than the ones down in the caves is because of their lack of exposure to the gas."

It is interesting to substitute group mindsets for "the gas." 'Victim-hood' looms large.'Expectation of oppression' might fit as well.

Sure, but we could also look at environmental and biological conditions of where black people live. For example, we could look at malnutrition/starvation in sub-Saharan Africa, which cannot bode well for the outcome of intelligence tests.

American ScientistThe Role of Intelligence in Modern Society By Earl Hunt"...improved education and training can raise the average achievement of all students. A study by one of my colleagues (Levidow 1994) showed this in a controlled way. High-school students were given a test of fluid intelligence. They then took a year-long problem-solving-oriented course in elementary physics. The IQ test did indeed predict how much physics the students learned. At the end of the year they took an equivalent IQ test. Their IQ scores had not changed a whit. Furthermore, the IQ test did predict the relative standings of the students on the final examination. However, all students had learned a great deal of physics, as evidenced by comparisons to national standards. IQ may not have been changed, but cognitive competence, in the sense of the problems the student could solve, was increased...."

Levidow's study involved a carefully monitored educational program. Could similar increases in skill be obtained just by putting more effort into education? In 1994 the New York City school system, at the insistence of their new chancellor, required that virtually all 10th-grade students take science courses that previously had been taken by only half the students, usually the more able ones. Enrollment jumped from 20,000 to 48,000 students. Failure rates went up, from 13 percent to 25 percent. Pessimists can point to this as a consequence of trying to teach hard topics to less-intelligent students. There is probably some truth to this. But more than twice as many students successfully completed science courses in 1994 than in 1993. http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/24538/page/8

Being a 3L isn't necessarily easier, but doing the work of a lawyer is.

A RESPONSE TO PROFESSOR SANDER:IS IT REALLY ALL ABOUT THE GRADES?JAMES E. COLEMAN, JR. & MITU GULATI∗

"...Racial Paradox paints all black associates with a broad brush. Itacknowledges that some black associates succeed, but does notexplain why. It leaves the impression that only those with relativelyhigh grades succeed, but does not specifically address the point. Ourexperience is that elite corporate law firms do not recruit blackassociates from the same range of schools from which they recruitwhite associates. Black associates are more likely to be recruitedprimarily, if not exclusively, from the most elite law schools. Ourguess is that the elite firms also hire white associates “with weakergrades” from these same schools.20 Sander does not attempt tocompare the experiences of these two groups of similarly situatedassociates, which one would expect to be similar, if merit rather thanstereotyping or discrimination explains the negative experiences ofblack associates.

In other words, is the white male student with lowgrades from Michigan hired by an elite law firm doing better or worsethan the black student from Michigan with the same low grades andhired at the same firm because of affirmative action? We suspect thatthe white student is doing better, perhaps a lot better, in terms of hislikelihood of winning the partnership tournament...."http://www.law.ucla.edu/sander/NorthCarolina/coleman.pdf